Britain Needs an Entirely New Political System. Here’s Why.

Ask anyone in the UK what they think about politics, and they’ll tell you politicians are not to be trusted, and that politics itself is broken. Our institutions, from the Treasury to the House of Lords and the Privy Council, are among the oldest in the world. It is a system better fit for a monarchy, than a modern democracy.

Investigative journalist Adam Ramsay has spent the last decade dissecting the apparatus of the British state. The conclusion he has come to in his new book, Abolish Westminster, is that we do just that. On Downstream this week, he tells Aaron Bastani why and how to do so.

What exactly are the Privy Council, the House of Lords, the Treasury, and who do they serve? Is it normal that so many members of our political system are on the payroll of foreign interests? How have other countries gone about updating their constitutions? And is ending the union the best way to abolish Westminster?